The Beauty Extremist: Lou Teasdale Talks Injectables

For the next and last part of my anti-ageing facial investigations, I've been thinking, it's time for someone to introduce me to something new. Now, I'm not scared of needles, like a lot of my friends are, but I'm scared of something going wrong and what my face might look like afterwards. But I'm not scared of the needles. Since we're all so open to rubbing charcoal-snake-venom-dragons-blood acid-peel-masks into our skin without question, why not consider going a little deeper? It makes sense to me that these 'topical' cream treatments that just go on the top layer of skin can only do so much. Injections don't have to preclude playdoh lips and shiny foreheads, there are ways and means of delivering all the stuff your skin needs (vitamins and minerals) to the deeper layers of tissue under the skin too and it is widely known as Mesotherapy. I need this. This treatment does not involve any of the 'bad' stuff, like fillers or muscle weakening ingredients. It can also be combined with other cosmetology treatments - a Mesotherapy cocktail called Mesobotox is popular which is basically an enhanced botox, but I don't want to go that far.

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After asking a few of my beauty editor and PR friends it became apparent that there is a Boss Lady of Meso, and so naturally I booked in with the best; Dr Frances Prenna Jones. The feeling in the cosy central London clinic is professional but so down to earth and comfortable. Frances talks me through her brand and how she works and slowly fills me with confidence to leave her in charge of my face. So I lay on the bed and let her scrutinise the imperfection that is/was my skin that day. (Here's my face, pretty bad right?)

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We went over what I use on my skin at the moment, my love for the cleansing milk I've used since I was 15 because that's what mum uses, and then she said something I didn't understand to the dermatology nurse who led me off to a different room and "got me started" with some "extractions". I hate extractions. Rendering my pores desolate with tools and tissues is the kind of bikini-wax pain that you know its good for you but you avoid if at all possible. After the extractions, a peel, a mask and 20 minutes of numbing cream I was lead back to the doctor with my face red raw ready for my Deep-Mesotherapy.

Frances is not like other cosmetologists. She's funny and up-front and I just feel comfortable in her presence. I would always rather someone tell me that yes, my skin is sh!t, but how can we make it not sh!t, than tell me its great because they're too polite to say otherwise. I feel like we're combatting something together that way.

She began with the injecting, loads of little injections really quickly all around my face, I assumed, what with the numbing cream, that I would in fact be numb and this wouldn't hurt a bit. I was wrong there. It did. Quite a lot actually, because not only does she inject the needle, she wiggles it around while she's holding it in - an action that's clearly needed to shove the anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals further in and around my middle layer of skin (the mesoderm), thereby stimulating the collagen and ultimately making me look younger, glowier and firmer - which is the desired effect. Nonetheless, it hurt.

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The greatest thing about Meso is the zero downtime. By the time I was out of my Uber I looked fresh as a daisy. My pores looked like I'd applied a really good pore-filling primer (i.e. invisible), only it was my actual skin! The full effects of the injections kicked in about a week later. This, my friends, is a first class facial. My skin is luminescent and nourished, and I believe, a little bit firmer. I booked back in for 4 weeks time which is recommended, and then a follow up several times a year. Two weeks later I do still have one tiny bruise on my cheek but if that is the only down point, I am not complaining. I'm very happy with the outcome. And with my new favourite face doc.

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